ACM HPDC 2019

The 28th International Symposium on High-Performance Parallel and Distributed Computing

Phoenix, Arizona, USA - June 24-28, 2019

Phoenix At Night

Phoenix At Sunset

PhD Forum

Student Mentoring Program for 2019

The annual HPDC PhD Forum event will continue with the traditional poster presentations by students working toward
a PhD in broadly defined areas related to parallel and distributed processing.

Participating students will have the opportunity to both present their research work and interact with senior
academic and industry people in an informal setting. In addition, there will be mentoring sessions to help students
improve communication skills, obtain valuable information for career planning, get familiar with a few of the trendy
research topics, and make valuable contacts - all while enjoying the HPDC main conference and many associated
workshops. The program culminates with a poster presentation, where students have the opportunity to practice what
they learned and disseminate their work to the broader HPDC audience.

The Student Research Program will be scheduled so that the participating students can follow all the main
scientific and social events of the conference, and it is open to all students, including the authors of papers
presented at the conference.

Planned Program

Wednesday morning break (11:00-11:20)

Presentation Skills

Wednesday second half of lunch (1:15-2:00)

Poster Presentation Practice Session

Wednesday evening

Poster Reception

Thursday second half of lunch (1:15-2:00)

Career Options Panel

Presentation skills - information to help understand how to give effective presentations.

Practice Presentation - spend 1-3 minutes presenting a teaser for your poster to your peers to get feedback
about both your poster and what you said. This will prepare you for the poster reception Wednesday evening.

Career Planning Panel - a collection of people from academia, the national labs, and industry will tell you
briefly about their path and then open it up to any questions students have about the tradeoffs and how to be
successful on a particular path.Given the limited time, students are encouraged to follow up with panelists and
conference attendees at other times for more information.

Seminar on presentation skills is a discussion about how to give a great presentation. The basic idea is to
understand the essence that all good presentations contain and how to incorporate that into your own work.

Workshop on poster presentation skills offers a chance for everyone to give a 1-3 minute teaser talk about their
poster and gain feedback from both the mentors and their peers. The goal is to be positive about the poster and
provide constructive comments on both the poster material organization as well as the quick presentation to help
presenters be better at summarizing their work and using that teaser talk to engage with the audience in more detailed
discussions.

Panel on research and career planning will include representatives from academia, research laboratories
(non-industry), and industry. After a short presentation from each about what their job entails and why you might
consider it, attendees are open to ask any questions to help guide what decision is the right one for them. While this
is career focused, other topics, such as lifestyle and side effects of the career choices on their personal life are
welcomed.

Students are encouraged to engage with conference attendees during the paper sessions, and scheduling of student
events supports this. Making connections that help incorporate attendees into the community is an important additional
goal. To facilitate this process, forum mentors will make appropriate introductions for student participants.

Previous Student Feedback

"The 'professionals' which attended the sessions were very responsive and gave some very good advice. I found
it very helpful especially when being in the first years of the PhD."

"I really liked the collaborative environment that was established between students and researchers and
authors. I made valuable contacts and friendships."

"The session was very much useful. Now, I came to know, how to make the best poster. I got some positive
feedback that motivates me and also got some negative feedback to improve myself technically and
non-technically."

"The mentoring sessions were very helpful. Due to these, I got exposed to dos and don'ts in research. Very
informative for an early researcher like me. Networking was the best part since it was ensured that we talked to
new people."

"To be able to meet all these amazing folks from all over the world. I feel I already made a ton of new
friends!"

Call For Applications

Because the 2019 HPDC PhD Forum will emphasize interactive activities and offer mentoring-coaching support, the
Applicant Statement of Interest will be as important as the poster proposal in the selection process.

Applicant students must be officially enrolled in a PhD Program at the time of submission. Masters students on
track to enter PhD program may apply but should meet same standards as other applicants.

What to Submit When

Applicants should prepare a submission document that addresses items 1 & 2 below. The manuscript cannot exceed two (2)
pages using at least 10-point size font on 8.5x11 inch pages with at least 1 inch margins. This document should be
submitted as a pdf file.

1

Applicant Statement of Interest

This section should include:

Short bio sketch.

Current research interests.

Plan for future research/career.

Objectives for participating in HPDC Student Program.

The applicant should also answer the following question: How do
you expect the interaction with the HPDC community will further
your research/career goals?

2

Poster Proposal

This section should include:

Title of work and author & advisor(s) names and
affiliations.

Brief description of work being done, including problem being
addressed and the research methodology being used.

Abstract of results to be presented in poster.

Submission of the application is via EasyChair, and the submit link below will take you to the site, which repeats
the instructions given here. Everywhere you see "paper" on the Easy Chair submit site, that refers to your
application. Also, you will be asked to enter an abstract. Use the same one that has been included in your
application.

Submission Info and Dates

The goal is to accept as many applications as our capacity allows, but the availability of our resources, will
limit the number of participants in the program. To be fair, we will employ a "first-come-first-served" approach,
with a rolling selection process to be used until the capacity is reached, based on the following schedule:

Application Deadline: May 24th AoE

Application Response: May 29th

Early Registration Ends: May 31st

Review of Applications

A committee drawn from the HPDC community and representative of the different areas of research that the
conference embraces will review the applications in concert with the PhD Forum co-chairs. By submitting an
application, the student is making a commitment to prepare and present a poster at the conference.